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James Houlihan
Name: James Houlihan Gender: Male Age: 17 School: Davison Secondary Hobbies and Interests: Gaming, Colored Pencil Drawing, Cinema Appearance: James Houlihan stands at 6’3”. Much to his dismay, James comes out to a mere 158 pounds which makes him appear quite scrawny. With narrow shoulders and lanky limbs, James could almost be described as having a “stick-like” appearance. Due to his mostly Irish heritage, James has a pale complexion. His hair is a dirty blonde, rather curly and unkempt. Hazel eyes adorn an otherwise unremarkable face; a long, concave nose, thin lips and high cheekbones. Much of his face is smattered with acne, a product of poor hygiene that he has been struggling with since middle school. One would struggle to call James Houlihan attractive. In terms of clothing, James dresses for comfort instead of fashion. Typically found wearing no more than sweatpants, sneakers and a baggy T-shirt (which make him appear thinner than he really is), James is very casually outfitted. On the day he was selected for SOTF-TV, he was wearing just that; Grey sweatpants, Blue and white sneakers with a black T-shirt about The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Biography: James Houlihan was born February 21st, 2003 to Patricia and John Houlihan, the youngest of three brothers. His birth came as a surprise to his father, as he was already in his early fifties at the time of James’s birth and wasn’t very intent on a third child. as his two oldest were already in their late teens (17 and 19 respectively). His parents held no resentment over this, of course, and raised him as they did their other two. At a younger age, James’ mother and father would watch old movies with him as a means of bonding. They kept things lighthearted, of course, typically sticking with comedies (though they expanded to other genres as he grew older) and James would often draw what he saw in these movies. Because of his imagination, and the way he could express himself in drawing, James soon developed a love of art. This love was further bolstered when his oldest brother (now living in his own apartment with a job in Internet Security) got him an extensive, 160 dollar art kit for his 8th birthday. Because he was typically off by himself throughout his elementary school years, drawing or otherwise keeping himself occupied during recess, James had no more than a small group of friends. Towards Middle school, however, he fell into the gaming crowd. He had found something he liked doing, and other people who liked what he did. Because James had older, richer parents (his mother being a business analyst and stock holder), they could typically afford him the latest consoles and titles. Of course, they placed limits as any reasonable parent would do, but James found himself more and more immersed. Throughout a sizeable portion of his middle school years, James volunteered to make posters after school to advertise various school functions. He took great joy in doing so, as this made for a great artistic outlet that simply couldn’t be satisfied with a 40 minute class. However, before long it became apparent that his B average grades were slipping; the time he spent making these posters would usually otherwise be spent on homework, and once home he would now eschew it in favor of his gaming obsession with the justification of a reward. After several warnings, he placed a limit on how long he could play video games each day and when James still proved unable to complete his work put a stop to his video gaming altogether. This was met with criticism on part of James, who felt that it was not fair. Fortunately, this was all his father had to do to get James to take initiative and try himself academically again. Eventually, three months before 8th grade ended, his grades had improved to a point where his father felt comfortable with letting him draw after school again. Come the start of high school, James’s gaming hobby subsided in favor of drawing once more, especially as he saw more artsy people in Davison. To him, high school was as interesting for him as it was intimidating. What if he was seen in a negative light, or worse, as incompetent? James soon figured out that nearly everyone in high school thought this about themselves and that as long as he reacted positively, nobody would think too poorly of him. However, he still has trouble trying to accept the people who do dislike him, as he is confused as to what he is “doing wrong”. James likes to face most situations with a smile; he will almost never pick on someone, though he will occasionally express his dislike of someone behind their backs. This, combined with his tendency to draw in open spaces which garners attention, has made him at least somewhat popular around school. He considers himself an extrovert, and he will typically find himself with a friend each weekend. James still likes to watch classics, although he now enjoys cinema from all years as opposed to just older movies. Among his favorites are the original 1968 Night Of The Living Dead, Monty Python and The Holy Grail and Ghostbusters. Where drawing is concerned, James prefers colored pencil drawings (although he will use markers or more occasionally pastels). He now likes to take his time with drawings as opposed to when he was younger. James will typically draw landscapes and scenery more than humans and animals, in large part because he found them too difficult to draw as a child and the stigma against doing it lingered. Where academics are concerned, James prefers English, in large part because it allows him to think outside the box and use his creativity. His grade is currently being maintained at a B average, with any C’s being in his least favorite subject, Mathematics. James currently struggles with his cleanliness. While he was hygienic at a younger age, towards Freshman year he would frequently eschew showers because of the perceived time it took to do so. In spite of how much he understands that proper hygiene is important, showering for James is infrequent and unroutine. The only TV show that James regularly watches is SOTF:TV, though he considers himself only a casual viewer. He watches more for the social aspects of being in a survival situation than the violence itself. Advantages: Despite an occasional off day, James is an optimist and as such will probably have little trouble becoming liked and trusted. People are also unlikely to see him as a threat because of his gangly, thin appearance. James is rather sociable, and he may have an easier time talking his way out of a bad situation. Disadvantages: James’s light frame means that he will likely falter when push comes to shove. In addition, James could almost be called blindly optimistic. He is unlikely to be able to see and detect the bad in people ( and possibly even downplay these traits) and may be put in jeopardy when someone does not feel like playing nice. Designated Number: Ebony Whales 5 (EW5). ---- Designated Weapon: FABARM FP6 Mentor Comment: "Um, well maybe his smell will help keep people away from him..." Evaluations Handled By: 'ChainmailleAddict '''Kills: '''None '''Killed By: 'Alice Young 'Collected Weapons: '''FABARM FP6 (designated weapon) '''Allies: 'Isabel Santana 'Enemies: 'Alice Young 'Mid-game Evaluation: ' 'Post-Game Evaluation: ' '''Memorable Quotes: Other/Trivia Threads Below is a list of threads that contain James, in chronological order. SOTF-TV: *I'm Not Here to Make Friends *Now I'm Here *Look Around *But You Won't See Me Your Thoughts Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about James. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here! *James had the fortune of spending most of his game together with one of my quiet favorite TV2 kids, often in one-on-one situations, which makes for some interesting reading. He's a character who skews nicely towards the confused and scared teenager side of TV, coming on too strong with his assigned shotgun right after waking up only to back down almost immediately, apologize profusely, and generally exhibit little to no strategic talent, instead trying to convince those around him to calm down and not fight and leaving rather than forcing the issue despite his marked advantage in armament. That's all stuff I quite like. The somewhat unsure nature of his character seems calculated, and I thought it was cool seeing him think he'd caused the death of Erik Sheely only to discover that in fact the deceased was a different Erik. There was, however, one pretty notable stumbling blocks to James' story as well: it's quite compact for ending well clear of the halfway point. He has no Sandbox and only four fairly short threads, of which one is his wake-up thread (which is nicely balanced), two are quiet conversations with Isabel, and the last is his death. It's all quality stuff, but it's a short arc that mostly doesn't have a lot going on (if you count her one Sandbox appearance, Isabel appears in three times as many threads as James). I think if he'd gotten two or three more threads to really interact with other characters (maybe along with Isabel, maybe before her) or if his death had come in the first third of the game, I'd have few gripes; as it is, though, James' story just feels oddly positioned and somewhat abridged, even though each of the individual pieces is very solid and he plays well off of those with whom he interacts. It's still good stuff taken on its own, but it just doesn't quite gel with the progression of the rest of the version. - MurderWeasel Category:SOTF-TV Category:Characters